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Friday, July 8, 2011

Liam is here!

On June 22, 2011 at 3:14 am and after 27 hours of labor and almost 3 hours of pushing, the cutest little boy in the world was born! I might be biased, because he is of course my son. But he is pretty darn cute. And I worked OB, I've seen not cute babies.
And now to answer the questions I'm sure you all are wondering. Or at least you are if you have been following my blog since I got pregnant. So here is how it went down:
June 19 - I thought my water broke. Its kind of hard to tell out here in the desert. It had just started to get for real hot here in 29 Palms (over 100 degrees) and I just wasn't sure if I was sweating or maybe had a slow leak of fluid. So I called the office and they had me go up to L&D to do some tests to see. Mainly because at that point I was already 4 days past my due date. So I go in. With my husband and doula for support we spend the evening in the OB triage and find out my water hadn't broke. But the nurse spoke with the doc and they wanted to admit and induce me. While I was hooked up to the fetal monitors there were a few moments when Liam's heart rate dipped a little. Now it didn't dip low enough to be called a "decel" but it was a variable. However I wasn't concerned about it because the times it happened was when the nurse had me laying on my back. So after a little bit of intimidation from the nurse, I resisted. I said I would let them admit me, but I wouldn't let them induce me. I don't think she expected me to say that. She looked very surprised. But they let me go home, and sent me on my way with a sheet to record kick counts every 2 hours. (Of course my little monkey always hit his kick counts within the first 20 minutes at the most). Besides, I had an appointment the very next day.
June 20 - I go in for my appointment. The first thing the nurse practitioner says is, "I heard you were causing some drama last night at L&D". I felt a little bad about this. I did not mean to be a difficult patient, I just didn't feel that I needed to be induced. Nor did I want to be induced. I didn't want to be put in a situation where they load me up with pitocin, and I'm having super painful contractions, but I'm not dilating, then I'd have to have a c-section. I'd rather just let Liam come when he is ready. Or try some less invasive ways first. So she checks my cervix. I had gone from 3cm and 70% effaced to 4cm 80% effaced. Yes, I walked around at 3cm - 4cm for a week! She stripped my membranes (again), and told me that she was going to set me up for an induction on the 23rd. I agreed. It still left me 2 more days to make it happen on my own. So as soon as we left the office the hubby and I tried everything to get this kid out. We walked for a couple of hours, I sat on the birthing ball, we even had sex that night.
June 21 - I was pretty sure at that point that I was never going to go into labor, so you can understand how surprised I was when I woke up at about 1:30 am to some pretty strong contractions. I was not able to sleep through them. They were coming about every 10 minutes. So after about 30 minutes I decided maybe I needed to wake up my hubby. I didn't need to head to the hospital until my contractions were 6 minutes apart. So I was really thinking I was pretty close to that. Long story short, we headed down to the hospital at about 4:30pm. My contractions were coming pretty regularly and were getting harder to just breathe through. By the time we got to OB triage I was 7cm and about 90% effaced. They were ready to admit me but there no beds on L&D! So we hung out for another couple of hours in the triage room. This was very uncomfortable for me. I had been up almost the entire night with contractions, and all I really wanted was some kind of break. And I wasn't going to get it sitting in triage. Finally once I got moved to my room I was able to talk pain relief. I didn't want an epidural, but the nurse told me I could get fentanyl every hour until I was 8 cm. So I got about 3 doses of that. Now don't think it took the pain away, because it most certainly did not. But it helped me to relax a little and even take little 2 minute naps in between contractions.
June 22 - I was finally 10 cm right around midnight or a little after. Which is good because I was really feeling like I needed to push. All I can really say is that after almost 3 hours of pushing it was all over. Did the contractions hurt? Yes! Like nothing I have ever felt before. But pushing did not hurt. It felt better. And once he was out and on my chest, I seriously felt no pain. Weird how the body works. So here are some pics:

the hubby and I slow dancing through contractions in our L&D room, he was great!

The first time I met little man face to face

The hubby holding his son for the first time

Liam, sleeping after his first big night

in his car seat, all ready to go home!

First night sleeping at home

my husband and his mini clone

Nap time!

i love all the funny faces he makes

First tub bath at home, he loved it....he spent the whole time drinking the water on his hands

This was taken today, I can't believe how different he looks from just 2 and half weeks ago

In the end, I did what I said I was going to do. I survived a labor and delivery without an epidural. My husband I could not have done it without the support and knowledge of my doula Nichole. She helped us so much. During the exhausting hours of pushing she was there to encourage me and let me know that I could do it. When my husband was tired she stood by me to give him a break to get some coffee. We really couldn't have done it without her. I mean, yeah, the baby would've come out without her, but it wouldn't have happened in a way that my husband and I wanted. This may sound silly, but she made our labor and delivery dreams come true!

4 comments:

Congrats!! I've been waiting for this post! I'm so happy for you; you have a beautiful, healthy baby boy!! And good for you, sticking up for yourself and having the delivery experience that you wanted. Congrats again!